Ja Rule, Bodyguards Target Of Feds

Federal prosecutors are focusing on multi-platinum rapper Ja Rule in their ongoing investigation of record label The Inc. and the company’s alleged ties to Queens, New York drug dealer Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. According to the New York Post, Ja Rule and two bodyguards face possible federal charges including “conspiracy to commit murder,” after a shooting […]

Federal prosecutors

are focusing on multi-platinum rapper Ja Rule in their ongoing investigation of

record label The Inc. and the company’s alleged ties to Queens, New York

drug dealer Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.

According to the New York Post, Ja Rule and two bodyguards face

possible federal charges including “conspiracy to commit murder,”

after a shooting in December of 2004 left one man dead and another injured.

The charges stem from a December 27, 2004 incident at a club

in New York where Ja Rule was celebrating a post-Christmas party.

Surveillance tape recorded Ja Rule and his entourage leaving

Club LQ as William “Willie Bang Bang” Clark, 39 and Troy Moore,

37, were entering the venue.

Sources told AllHipHop.com it was well known on the streets

that Clark aka “Billy Bang” and Moore were allegedly behind a string

of robberies involving celebrity rap stars, including one of Foxy Brown’s

brothers.

Moore is cooperating with authorities in an attempt to avoid

gun charges. Also, Moore is the elder brother of Tyran “Tah Tah”

Moore, who is already linked to the murder, money laundering and drug dealing

probe of Irv Gotti’s record label, The Inc. by federal investigators.

Some of the incidents were never reported to police, who are

investigating several other record labels and artists as well the Post reported.

Footage seized by the NYPD of the club’s parking lot captured

Ja Rule’s vehicle starting to leave as Clark and Moore arrived.

The vehicle stopped as one of the bodyguards ran to the side

of the saying to the other: “come with me it’s going down.”

One of the bodyguards then exited the vehicle and as Ja Rule’s

vehicle pulled away, the two men open fired, fatally wounding Clark and injuring

Moore.

According to the Post, authorities believe that Ja Rule’s

bodyguards were enraged that the men came to the party, given their notorious

reputations.

Ja Rule denied involvement in the shooting previously and his

lawyer, Murray Richman also denied that his client was involved.

"There’s no truth to this matter and I am confident Ja

Rule has enough sense to not be involved in this type of situation," Richman

told AllHipHop.com.

Sources told AllHipHop.com that an investigation into various

New York Hip-Hop record labels started as early as 1996, when police noticed

unnamed Brooklyn men attach themselves to rappers and other entertainers.

Soon afterwards

the “Hip-Hop Intelligence Unit” was created to monitor the Hip-Hop

industry in New York.

That quickly

spread to other cities across the country including California, New York, Georgia

and Miami, due to authorities belief that the rap industry was organizing along

the lines of traditional organized crime.